iPhone music can't be completely deleted

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Level 2

254 points

iPhone music can't be completely deleted

I cannot completely delete music from my iPhone 6. When I delete an album when I'm connected to my Mac Mini, the selections disappear only to reappear the next time I sync my iPhone to my computer. The selections previously deleted show up as grey text. I can delete them again, and they disappear, but they return again the next time I sync my phone. The only way I've seen this stop is if I do a complete restore.

This has been actually going on for quite some time, perhaps years with prior versions of iOS and iTunes. I've posted before without getting any help.

iPhone 6+, iOS 8.1.3

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8, 64 GB,

Posted on Feb 8, 2015 2:17 PM

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Answer 1

Bob Rodenburg Author

Level 2

254 points

Feb 8, 2015 4:00 PM in response to Bob Rodenburg

FYI, I'm managing music manually and backing up to iCloud.

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Answer 2

Bob Rodenburg Author

Level 2

254 points

Feb 8, 2015 5:14 PM in response to Bob Rodenburg

Another "feature" of this problem: I delete all the songs I want gone, then if I hit the "Sync" button, all the ghost songs reappear. It doesn't seem to matter whether the songs are checked or unchecked in my main iTunes library.

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Answer 3

Feb 9, 2015 7:21 AM in response to Bob Rodenburg

Similar problem here. When syncing iPhone with computer I cannot delete songs from iPhone. Computer says they are deleted and indicates 3GB free space on phone. But they remain on the phone; consequently the phone only has 400MB space, and I continually get alerts warning me that my phone has too little free space.

I only use iCloud for iTunes store purchases. Most of my music is from CDs. I manage all my music manually.

iPhone 5c, 32GB, iOS ver. 8.1.3

MacBook Air, Mid 2013, Yosemite ver. 10.10.2

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Answer 4

Bob Rodenburg Author

Level 2

254 points

Sep 18, 2016 10:08 PM in response to Bob Rodenburg

Update: this problem still exists after the iOS 10 update - IWhen I connect my iPhone 6+ to my Mac Mini, I have a lot of music content on my iPhone that is grey'ed out that represents songs/albums that I've deleted. In fact, I now have more greyed out music content on my iPhone than actual playable songs. This is ridiculous.

Does anyone have any new ideas about how to clear off the greyed out music content on my iPhone? The only way I've found to clear the grey songs is to do a complete restore of the phone.

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